Pages

Sunday, February 08, 2015

Thank You Thank You Thank You! Musing in Textile:France

Well we are finally at the business end of the Musing in Textile:France project. Yes we are finally sending out the books for which you have all so patiently waited. All the Australian supporters and New Zealand supporters will have received or will very shortly receive their books. Those who supported the hand made books reward- in Australia- your books will be sent tomorrow (we apologise it has taken a bit longer- we never thought we would have 10 people subscribe to the reward so it has involved quite some making and has taken us a bit longer than anticipated). Europe (UK and US) books will be bulk shipped later this coming week to France, and then posted within France to their various destinations (so unfortunately yours will take a bit longer and our apologies for that).
But most of all-we want to thank each and every one of you who supported our project ( some of you pledged for more than one reward so to you a double thank you!) Without you this project would never have happened- we feel both humbled and incredibly chuffed that you saw fit to support our project and we hope that you will not be disappointed. I especially am grateful, as there is no publishing industry as such in Australia for quilt or textile books and in particular a book that is more about the inspiration and the journey than the how to. So the only way to achieve a book of this kind was through a platform such as Pozible and your very generous support.The list of thank yous is in the order the pledges came in. I have also put a summery at the end about things we learnt and some considerations if you are considering the crowd fund raising path.
Shirley GoodwinHendrika PriemisMarie-Thérèse Persoon-KlingelheferMevr Truus BakkerLinda RobertusJan CWil Opio OgutaCarole KokinisSusan de VannyDonna RowanHerma de RuiterLinda StokesJudy MurdochJill SparksNic BridgesElizabeth DubbeldeJill DearingLisa WaltonDenise FordyceFelicity Griffin ClarkSherry BoramSue KrekorianBarbara CurreymerkusjeFiona WrightAlexis WardAlison DowneyLee MillsEmma CoutancierAlexandra HalseyAnne LinageLyn DuhigSusanne BisoDebra Chapman Ginette BellanLynette WeeksPatricia HutchinsonSally Ann WestcottMargaret GilbertNicole PeetersDebclarkeEsther Elizabeth MatthewsSarah Louise RickettsChantal BaquinPatrise DowlingSusan DaweMathea DaunheimerChris BeardsleySandy MarcouxSue and Angus MartinDiana StoverMeg Owenvictoria gordonMelanie BartlettBarbara HilfordJeana BlackertSophie LanhamMargaret DenmanKathryn RobertsonChristine MoulinClare SmithBarbara McIlvainRae PoonGerda JacksonLajla NystadRichard nadineMarilyn BielskiKelly Hamlyn-HarrisKerrie RodgersFiona DunnEileen Orchardduverge chantalSheila Kellyraffaella linguaOdile l'HuillierLinda ForeyCatherine RoyBuchoudCristina RobbianiAnnickFrancoise CourteilDanielle CosteSylvie ChevillardMonique Martin CharpentierMichèle JacquotThelma ScudineycensasChristiane Menesson Agnes BesleSusan McRaeChevreul MartineJoelle LerouvilloisLyn McCormickAlicia MerrettLinda SewardVauvrecy VéroniqueMargo BimlerDini Zweegers Regine PeroniRae HopkinsonMarilyn WilsonNadine BondCarole SmollanIsa dulhosteSylviane CaradecEli and May Broekhuis-RondayAlison HoltSandra van VelzenKatie AlfordSeverine AllaisAnna BuesinkLisa GuthrieAnne FergusonDale RollersonRebecca ClarkePenelope CromptonAnnie LabruyereEmmy Schoonbeekisabelle debatKatell RenonBrigitte GaldemarToufflet ChristineMarie Christine Chasseraud marie Jose OustauMichele PicardFrances Murphy Anne-Valerie BerthePoncinet MichelleEls gauchotteMarie France Gougnard Evelyne Riff Brigitte DiderSusannah HeathJune O. UnderwoodJane HowieDebra LukeisCatherine Andrieu Henriette QuintardHuber MoniqueCheryl billing smithJessica WheelahanTracey BrowningCherry JacksonJennifer ManefieldMarian MageeCäcilia ArnoldBismuth FlorenceFrédérique Jøjäl CrétalPam KellyMarlene McPhersonElisabeth Nacenta de la CroixKathryn ThompsonClaire LynchPetra KooijHenny HertingSusan HuntLizzi Drakekathy williamsCarol Veillon QUILTMANIAChristelle KupferleJane MonkV SpiegelMandie ChandlerElizabeth SmithPaulene CattleEileen VlatkoClaude allardCatherine GrangeatFrieda OxenhamJeanne GerthofferMilena CreaSusan DuffieldHelen BakerLouise TaylorDenise GriffithsJo-Anne BrittKate HansenSandy AskillMargery GoodallBergen RoseJane CoadMarie Claude HauratMargaret RamsayJodie-Ann Marree ArklayAli GeorgeChrissy SheedLeaShirley JacobsFraser ClaytonCathy HensmanLynette Julie Morgan-TaitLeonie GittinsJoy HarveyDianne FirthDanielle BouvetJan mullenSusan MathewsPeter SylvieJulie OatesMaya Jansen-BeijnArlette CousinEva AbbingaJenny BrooksRobina SummersBronwyn CoolingDelaney Nguyen XuanYvonne WrightLyn Dennis Chantal GuillermetJosée PlantierDominique Houles Nelly CavagnaroRahima MacdonaldGloria BowenChristina FreeTrisha JamesVivien Lynette BalchinPenny SheaffeCathie GriffithsMany people I know personally and some go a long way back to even high school days ( Lyn and Lyn if Mrs Donaldson could see us now lol)- the whole project has over all been and incredibly positive experience and one for which I am incredibly grateful. I want to thank my daughter Celeste for travelling this journey with me- through all the ups and downs, through all the parcelling, but most of all for your beautiful design of my book, all your hard work in talking specifications with the printer, and in helping my dream come true.And she has just landed an internship with a firm she had been wanting to work for! I also want to thank my friend Christine Moulin for her super job in translating my words into french and for trying to give them the sense I had intended.It has also been a huge learning curve for my daughter Celeste Galtry and myself and I do want to mention some things for any future aspirants for crowd funding.

Give your self more time than you think necessary- best laid plans and all that, but mostly allow at least one month in your plans for life itself- our life intervention took a month or even more- the neighbour where my daughter used to live became so obnoxious that she feared for her life ( he had threatened her with a small axe, wire snapping in his hands threatening to cut her, playing loud music all night long, and a torrent of swear words that made us suspect he had tourette syndrome and with the police stating that he was "harmless enough" and if we were so worried then we should take out a restraining order, which we tried to do but it was going to be two weeks to get an interview for said order- we knew not what kind of drugs he was on or whether he would turn violent as there were definitely little men running around in his fried brain, we knew there was drug and alcohol abuse happening - so the only solution was to move house. I had just returned form overseas and many of my things were stored at my daughters house and she had also just started a full time barrista job from which she could not take days off to pack house etc. Then youngest daughter also moved- when it's all said and done it took a month to move - fortunately where my daughter now lives is much much quieter. It also interrupted our video plans as days we had set aside to film had to be abandoned because he was having one of his tourette fits which went for 3 days running.

have a contingency plan- expect the unexpected to happen and allow time for it- ours involved where we were going to send things in Europe( delivery) and a printing mishap ( which caused delay, but was nobody's fault as such, just a machinery malfunction- we were glad to pick it up before the shipment had been sent- so make sure you check everything very carefully)

make sure you cost everything very carefully- we thought we had done all our research very carefully only to discover that the postage costs for each reward were part of the pledge and not a separate additional cost to the pledge- some other people discovered similar things in their crowd funding campaigns- so make sure you double check everything!

when dealing with postage allow at least a 15% inflation factor ( sounds in credible doesn't it) but in this age of internet purchasing, postal services and other delivery services can charge a premium and regularly increase their costs and I believe Australia must have the most expensive postage service in the world- it would cost more to send the book to Europe or the US than to actually purchase the book- that is sure great for micro-business! The cost of posting to New Zealand was equally outrageous.

the Pozible platform have their charge, which we knew about and was well worth the service we received ( and the platform was easy to use and worked efficiently, we were also assigned a mentor who was helpful and made regular contact so I would use this platform again for sure) , but we forgot about the fact that if people paid with Paypal- which many people did, Paypal of course take their percentage

customs charges and taxes are confusing- nobody was able to give us an accurate estimate of what our customs clearance charges would be- we checked several different sources including customs itself but did not get an intelligible answer to the question how much will it cost?

if you print offshore remember to factor in Gst or Vat to the place of shipment- we had taken account of it- but still have no clear answer whether vat will be payable on top of the gst that has already been paid?

factor in unspecified courier costs- you will need them at some stage and likewise factor in bank transfer costs

time- it is a most precious commodity for a micro business and be prepared for things to take longer than planned

when we did our research it was noticeable that the projects which got funded offered valuable rewards and effectivediscounts- we tried to keep that in mind when creating our rewards

Social media is incredibly important- and Instagram is a must use- I did not use it enough overall ( I am still learning it)

who knew parcelling up packages took so long?

it's a rollercoaster- no two ways about it

I am happy to talk anyone through the process. We researched Pozible for about a year and looked and tracked how some projects not dissimilar to our own fared and what had worked. We thought we had prepared well for the journey, but whilst we had in many ways, the fact that it was such a rollercoaster was something no amount of preparation would have prepared us for- every morning and night our hearts were in our mouths- sometimes thinking it would not happen and other times with just sheer excitement.The night we passed our target was like winning a medal- I felt empowered -not quite the reaction i was expecting but we had just achieved a long held dream- and the overwhelming emotion was one of "Yes!! We (meaning my daughter and I) did it!" . But in all reality the catch cry should be "Yes We did it !" All of you who supported the campaign- you did it! And if you have an idea that you feel worth pursuing- follow your dream!

Would we do it again- you bet- we are already planning our next book Musing in Textile:Italy!

Having read this blog entry Dijanne, I am staggered at what you and Celeste had to go though to deliver such a treasure of a book to us all. I cannot described the joy and inspiration reading your book is giving me. My name can go on your list for your next book now. Thank you for putting in all that work to share your creative journey, with others on a creative journey that can seem lonely, especially if your work alone, and for reasons of lack of physical mobility could never undertake the kind of work you have been able to experience. You really have opened my mind and my eyes and I believe I will work differently from now on and with more depth of what I personally want to do.

Musing in Textile: France

Origidij Instagram

About Me

I am a Textile Artist and itinerant at the moment.My base at present is in Geelong though I teach around the world.I love to dye and print fabrics and assemble them into quilts with lots of stitching both by hand and machine.I also create my own linocuts for printing on fabric.